"Actor: Jacqueline McKenzie"

• Hard And Brutal - Scum / Romper Stomper / Chopper | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Scum: Alan Clarke's Scum shows a vicious system and doesn't pull any of the punches - or kicks - so relentlessly deployed in the battles between rivals in the power stakes that incarceration promotes. It's the brutal story of life in a modern-day Borstal. Run by the violence and cruelty of both inmates and officers the system is a jungle which brutalizes all within its walls. Carlin who has been transferred from another Borstal for retaliation against violent officers is thrown into this human quagmire - and what follows is a harsh and bitter battle for survival. He realises that the only way is by beating the system at its own game and eventually erupts as leader of a bloody climatic riot. Romper Stomper: Violent but never gratuitous emotionally powerful and never afraid to portray the ugly destructive face of prejudice Romper Stomper excites disturbs and boldly challenges the viewer. Its angry raw story about a brutal lawless group of skinheads is a savage kick in the guts. This is no simplistic street-gang film but a rivetting portrayal of the hopelessness and blind hatred of youth that is both controversial and profound. Chopper: An extraordinary movie about an extraordinary man the highly acclaimed and award winning Chopper is the boldest and grittiest Australian film in decades. Brimming with dangerous excitement and stunning innovation the sensational debut of rock director Andrew Dominik is an exhilarating sharp shock to the system revealing the no-holds-barred story of the notorious Oz criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read. Told in flashback as Read serves one of his many prisons sentences this extreme biography charts the brutal carnage and wicked sense of humour of a man who supposedly committed nineteen vicious murders and got away with it. Mixing startling facts from his nine best-selling books including 'How To Shoot Friends and Influence People ' with stylish pulp fiction to paint an astonishing portrait of a larger-than-life legend Chopper is funny fascinating and frightening and features a show-stopping central performance from Eric Bana Australia's top stand-up comedian.

• Deep Blue Sea / Space Cowboys / Sphere | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  With a voracious trio of mako sharks wreaking havoc, Deep Blue Sea dares to up the ante on Jaws, but director Renny Harlin trades the nuanced suspense of Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster for the trickery of the digital age. In other words, why build genuine terror when you can show ill-fated humans getting torn into bloody chunks? It's inevitable that Saffron Burrows should end up in her underwear like Sigourney Weaver in Alien, but even then the movie offers a credible reason for the strip-down; that Deep Blue Sea can be simultaneously ridiculous and sensible is just another one of its shlocky charms. Space Cowboys is a slice of cornball Americana that's so much fun you'll be tempted to stand up and salute. Director and costar Clint Eastwood manages to turn what might have been ludicrous into a jubilant tribute to age and experience, and Space Cowboys succeeds as two movies in one--a comedy about retired pilots given one last shot at glory and an Apollo 13-like thriller with all the requisite heroics. Space Cowboys earns its wings, once again demonstrating Eastwood's comfort with any genre he chooses. From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes the equally derivative and flaccid movie Sphere, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere's look and feel is like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Ultimate Film - Assault On Precinct 13 / Romper Stomper / American Yakuza | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Romper Stomper: An utterly engrossing story of rampaging neo-Nazi skinheads that may well be one of the most disturbing films. It's intoxicating violence and willingness to suspend moral judgement on its hypnotic characters make the film complex. Emotionally powerful and never afraid to portray the ugly destructive face of ignorance and prejudice 'Romper Stomper' excites disturbs and boldly challenges the viewer. Winner of 3 Australian Institute Awards including Best Actor (Russell Crowe) film critics have hailed Romper Stomper as one of the most brilliant provocative and truly exciting motion pictures to appear on the screen. (Dir. Geoffrey Wright 1992) Assault On Precinct 13: Isolated cut off inside an abandoned police station a handful of cops and some convicts on their way to Death Row must join forces and defend themselves against the gang called Street Thunder who have taken a blood oath to destroy. From the director of Halloween and The Thing Assault On Precinct 13 combines elements of the classic western and modern thriller to create a cult favorite. (Dir. John Carpenter 1976) American Yakuza: In America they call it the Mafia. In Japan they call it Yakuza. When they meet they call it war! Viggo Mortensen and Michael Nouri star in this explosive action-thriller about the first American accepted into the savage brotherhood of Japan's criminal underworld. Sent to infiltrate the American arm of the Yakuza FBI agent Nick Davis (Mortensen) rises through the ranks of assassins and is soon adopted into the powerful Tendo crime family. His work brings him into brutal conflict with not only the Italian mob run by Dino Campanela (Nouri) and hotheaded enforcer Vic (Nicky Katt Boiler Room) but also a hard-nosed FBI task force guided by unscrupulous Agent Littman (Robert Forster Jackie Brown). Caught dead center in a war between the Yakuza the mob and the FBI Davis must decide what's more important: his old loyaltiesor his new bond of blood. (Dir. Frank Coppello 1995)

• Romper Stomper | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £4.89   |  Saving you £1.10 (22.49%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The burning intensity of Russell Crowe (LA Confidential) first lit up screens as a hate-filled, Mein Kampf-spouting skinhead in this brutal Australian drama. Crowe glowers from under his deep-set eyes as Hando, the creepy but charismatic leader of a racist gang who declares war on the Asian immigrants pouring into Melbourne. His rage erupts in violent attacks on the local Vietnamese community, but when his victims fight back his gang breaks up, and Hando flees the city with his best buddy Davey (Daniel Pollock) and redheaded hellion Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie), a rich girl runaway who turns the dynamic duo into a splintered love triangle. Writer-director Geoffrey Wright's matter-of-fact treatment of this subculture eschews social commentary for visceral immediacy. His portrait of white supremacist punks living like squatters on the fringes of Australian society is powered by coiled anger and simmering frustration, which finds its outlet in brutal fights and murderous rampages. The lack of moral position may bother some people, especially in light of Wright's sympathetic treatment of particular members of Hando's racist army, and the cold, hate-driven violence is sometimes hard to watch, but his vivid characters and richly drawn world create a compelling drama for adventurous filmgoers. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com